Scottish business groups have said the Government's freeze on the 2p fuel duty hike does not go far enough to help small businesses.

Jim Gorie, spokesman for the Forum of Private Business in Scotland, said the Government has to do more to help curb disproportionately high fuel costs which are having an adverse effect on rural businesses.

The Scottish Federation of Small Business has also called upon the Government to implement a fuel adjustment mechanism to offset a further rise in fuel duty.

And Scottish Chamber of Commerce chief executive, Liz Cameron, right, said the government could go further by scrapping the proposed duty hike altogether. Gorie says the price of fuel in some areas of the country is far higher than the national average, and small businesses there are facing increasingly higher costs due to the longer haulage distances.

"The Government's decision to postpone the 2p rise in fuel duty is a step in the right direction, but 2p either way will make little difference to small businesses in rural areas of Scotland," he said.

"Those businesses are already paying disproportionately higher prices for fuel than the rest of the country, and have longer haulage distances to cover. The Government has to step in to help to curb current fuel prices, otherwise many small businesses in Scotland will undoubtedly go under."

Colin Borland, head of press and parliamentary affairs for the Scottish Federation of Small Business said: "We would support a fuel duty adjustment mechanism to use to increase in oil revenues to offset fuel duty. What we would like to see is a fair deal for fuel across the board as all businesses in Scotland.

"Fuel price is the top issue being raised by our members, and is obviously causing business owners a great deal of concern."

Cameron said the chancellor's decision was a sensible approach considering the increased revenues it receives from inflated oil prices.

"Alastair Darling's decision to postpone the fuel duty increase planned for October has brought an enormous collective sigh of relief from the business community," she said. "The only thing he could have done better was to cancel it altogether, and I hope he sees the wisdom of that option soon."

Meanwhile there was some hope that oil prices are starting to ease with light, sweet crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange was trading at Û134 a barrel, well down from the Û147 record recorded last week.

There was also a glimmer of hope for the UK's hard-pressed motorists as figures showed the rate of increase in petrol prices had slowed.

Average petrol and diesel prices rose by a more modest 1.5p a litre between mid-June and mid-July, the AA revealed, compared with 5p to 7p hikes endured by drivers during the period mid-May to mid-June.